radio shack trc-442 questions.

[fentfab]

hey guys this is my first post here. i just got in a trc-442 off ebay and got her all cleaned up on the outside and fixed the power cable and nic nacs like that and tested the radio out and the squelch volum is very low with the volume wide open. i can here it when i hold the radio to my ear like rappers in the early 90s. so i removed the bottom cover to reveal the speaker and all the componenets on the inside of this buger and check the speaker impedance and it reads like 4.5ohm when it clearly says 8ohm 2w on the speaker. could this be causing my problem? there is some adjustment screws t3, t4 that are a flat head type, would those need to be played with? or if installed a panel mount 1/8" jack to the side of the unit and ran a cable from the cb to my aux-in on my car stereo would that just solve the prob?

thanks guys sorry for the novel.

[ramblingman]

hello,,welcome to the forum....first thing to do..is to plug in an external speaker into the ext. plug in back of radio..do this before turning any pots..you turn these and get your freq..out of wack its hard to get it back right without proper equiptment...

[fentfab]

hey ramblinman, the radio does not have an ext speaker but tommorrow i will add a ext panel mount to it and try it out? i have a buddy with the peak meters and power supply and all might have him check it out. i was just tryin to do this myself before lettin him look at it.

i will admit there was two pots that i turned and one of them is still in its original location the other one was making the output speaker a tad bit louder but not enough to really do anything else.... i usually find these radios in great shape but this is the first one that i have a problem with. when radio shack corporate pulled these away from us in 2000 the hunters had nothing to install on the atvs utvs and golfcarts. for the past couple years i have been buyen these and sellen them. great little radios. not alot of power but i have seen these take beatings.

[ramblingman]

hi,,if what your saying is the radio dont have an external speaker jack in the rear of the radio..then id suggest finding a known good speaker,and just hook it up,inside the radio where the original one is..taking caution not too let the wires touch nothing they shouldnt...then turn it on and try that.if still you dont have proper volume.then you know youll have to proceed further.

[fentfab]

correct it doesnt. the speaker is an 8ohm 2watt speaker i checked the impeadance on the speaker it it read 4.5-5ohm. i will try that next. thanks again. i'll let you know.

[ramblingman]

hello again,,,also remember if your testing the impediance of speaker with it still in circuit you will get a different reading also..you will need to unsolder leads from the speaker and then test in order to get a proper reading.also you can put your v.o.m. on the x10 scale and apply voltage to the speaker,you should hear a light popping sound.if not the speaker is blown.

[fentfab]

got it working, ground wire inside the radio was loose and the mic cable had to be rewired. works great thanks again.